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The Food and Drug Administration, already under fire for its response to superbug outbreaks at U.S. hospitals, has tried and failed twice to get medical scope manufacturers to prove their controversial devices can be cleaned of deadly bacteria. The embattled agency said Monday that it didn't request the information until spring 2014 — despite earlier warnings about tainted scopes — and that it has given device makers three chances to validate their cleaning protocols. Those new disclosures drew immediate criticism from a federal lawmaker and some consumer advocates. All this comes after two patients died at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center from contaminated...

Related "Food and Drug Administration" Articles

The Food and Drug Administration, already under fire for its response to superbug outbreaks at U.S. hospitals, has tried and failed twice to get medical scope manufacturers to prove their controversial devices can be cleaned of deadly bacteria.
The...

Three years ago, Japanese electronics giant Olympus Corp. was in crisis amid a massive accounting scandal and plunging sales of its signature cameras.
Executives vowed to save the 93-year-old firm by turning aggressively to healthcare and selling more...

ZMapp, the experimental Ebola drug that won notoriety when it was given to a handful of infected aid workers at the height of the epidemic, will now begin clinical testing in Liberian treatment centers, U.S. health authorities said.
"Although...

Following a superbug outbreak at UCLA, the family of a 48-year-old patient who died there has sued a medical device maker for wrongful death.
The family of Antonia Torres Cerda sued Olympus Corp. of the Americas on Wednesday in Los Angeles County...

A senior Food and Drug Administration official voiced reservations about the new method UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center is using to clean medical scopes linked to an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The official also said Monday that the...

Hospitals nationally are scrambling to figure out how to keep using a controversial medical device that benefits patients while avoiding another deadly bacterial outbreak like the one at UCLA Medical Center.
Two patients have died and five more were...

One of the two patients who died in connection with a superbug outbreak at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center was a 48-year-old liver transplant patient from the Central Valley, according to the family's attorney.
In addition to the two deaths, five...

U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials Friday defended the agency's decision to allow medical scopes linked to patient infections to remain on the market.
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FOR THE RECORD
An earlier version of this post said the medical scopes were...

Consumption of emulsifiers, additives widely used in the production of processed foods, promotes inflammatory bowel disease and a cluster of obesity-related diseases known as metabolic syndrome, and may have contributed to the sharp rise in these...

The job of keeping our food wholesome has become more difficult as food itself has become more complicated. Because processed foods include ingredients from many sources, it is hard to trace the origin of pathogens. A package of ground beef, for instance,...

In the first lawsuit stemming from the superbug outbreak at UCLA, an 18-year-old patient accused a major healthcare device maker of negligence for selling a medical scope prone to spreading deadly bacteria.
Aaron Young, a high-school student still...

An estimated 9 million people are sickened and 1,000 killed by food-borne illnesses in the U.S. each year, but until now officials were unable to pinpoint which foods were most likely to blame.
In a report released Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease...

Los Angeles County health officials are attempting to assuage the public’s fears surrounding a deadly outbreak of drug-resistant bacteria at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, saying the episode is “not a threat to public health.”
The hospital...

Chocolate lovers in the U.S. can kiss artificial flavors and colors in Butterfingers, Crunch and Baby Ruth bars goodbye, as Nestle aims to become the first U.S. candymaker to remove such ingredients from its chocolate products.
Nestle...

At long last, a group of respected physicians and obesity researchers has stepped forward to challenge the facile bromide that America's weight issues can be easily fixed by diet and exercise.
Take note, glib-talking doctors and legislators, rail-thin...

Los Angeles County officials are allowing the use of powerful psychiatric drugs on far more children in the juvenile delinquency and foster care systems than they had previously acknowledged, according to data obtained by The Times through a Public...

The manufacturer of the medical scopes at the center of a deadly bacterial outbreak at UCLA Medical Center is under investigation by federal officials for possible violations of laws that ban improper payments to doctors and other customers.
Olympus...

Americans’ atrocious eating habits start incredibly young, according to a new, comprehensive analysis of foods sold for infants and toddlers.
About one-third of dinners made for toddlers contained at least one kind of added sugar, researchers from the...

Alarmed by the prevalence of tobacco use among teenagers, state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) introduced legislation Thursday that would raise the legal minimum smoking age in California from 18 to 21.
Hernandez, who is an optometrist, has support...

Arguing that the rising popularity of electronic cigarettes soon would undermine California's leadership in reducing tobacco use, state health officials Wednesday called for tighter regulation of the devices and announced an educational campaign to combat...